NOTE: Congratulations on making it this far. This is the beginning of part two of WASTELAND. As always, please tell me what you think by reviewing. Please enjoy.
Slightly more than a week had come to pass since I had last laid eyes on my home. Since the day my parents had been brutally killed by raiders. I had come face to face with death as I wandered alone through the wasteland, only to survive with the aid of a faceless man. A man who I now traveled alongside. He had saved me from a horrific death and gave me reason to hope for a future.
He was my link to life, and I was grateful. More than grateful.
I looked over the dancing flames of the campfire to the man who lay opposite me, his mechanical breaths steady and even. His rifle and gear lay beside him, within easy reach if needed. I lazily chewed the last of my dinner, swallowing the tough jerky the man had given me. He had eaten nothing.
This act irritated me deeply to no end. Another of his many quirks.
The man who had saved my life was strange to say the least. His true appearance remained a mystery, his face permanently hidden from the outside world behind a reflective visor. He moved forward with a purpose that eluded me; he never spoke nor ate in my view. Even his name was a question left unanswered.
I knew nothing of this man and yet I was forced to place my survival in his hands.
This man was strange. This entire world was strange.
I sighed and looked out into the darkness that surrounded our little camp. In the distance I could just make out the dark silhouette of the great city whose buildings stretched high up into the sky: towers of concrete and steel. It was unlike anything I had ever seen before. Ruins of a society long gone: a testament to the past. A moving sight that instilled both awe and sadness into me.
My father had told me stories of a world that no longer existed. A place where the water was as clear as crystal and the trees as green as jade. A place where cities of unimaginable sizes rose from the earth as monuments to the greatness of mankind.
Then the war began, and the bombs fell, and the world suffered.
The water evaporated. The trees died. The cities were obliterated, and the people were thrown back into an age of darkness. Overnight the world ended. The wasteland was all that remained of a world of grandeur.
I turned away from the city. We would resume our journey early tomorrow morning and I needed to get some sleep. I curl up beside the fire and lay my head down on my arms. Closing my eyes I soon drift off only to dream of my dead parents. My mother is baking a meat pie and my father is tending the garden. Both smile at me, and then they're gone. And I'm alone.
Sleep is fleeting.
I stared up into the night sky. The moon is empty above me, just a sliver in the starry sky. A distant howl of coyotes sent shivers down my spine. I decided to play with my Pip-Boy. Maybe, just maybe, the rainbow will come back, revitalized in the flickering firelight. The rainbow made me smile, and I needed to smile right now.
I bent my arm around the fire, aiming the little screen towards the orange hot flames to no avail. The firelight is too uneven to make the rainbow. I keep trying, not hearing the whisper in the sand. The footstep. I look up.
The man is standing above me, staring down from behind his mack. Staring down at the small device attached to my scrawny wrist. I freeze in place, my mouth slightly agape. An irrational fear takes over and I quickly hide the Pip-Boy beneath my sleeve. The man takes my arm, gently but firmly, and pulls the sleeve back.
"Don't take it. It's mine," I yelled with no force in my voice, tugging at the man's grip. He ignored my pleas, far too fascinated to pay me any attention. I begged the man to leave me be, to let me keep the little computer. I wanted to see the rainbow again. I wanted to smile.
The faceless man released his grip and stood. He lifted his left arm and pulled the loose fitting sleeve back. Wrapped tightly around his forearm was a large rubber bracelet with metal casings that glinted in the firelight. Glowing softly with eerie green light was a small computer screen that brightened with his touch.
His very own Pip-Boy.
"You have one?" I mouthed in amazement. The man nodded and tapped away at the computer with his gloved finger. After a moment he dropped his arm and turned his back to me, returning to his side of the campfire in several strides. He laid his head on his rucksack and went back to sleep.
I could see a faint glow emanating from under my dirty sleeve. A single beep sounded and the rubber bracelet pressurized and tightened as it adjusted to the size of my forearm. I held the Pip-Boy up to my face and stared at the little mascot that smiled gleefully at me from the screen. Below him was a message.
Error detected.
Negative match to M. Jackson.
Reassigning.
. . . .
Welcome and thank you for choosing RobCo Industries' Pip-Boy Model 3000.
Please enter your name.
A keyboard appeared on the screen. I used my index finger to tape the letters of my name.
A
L
I
C
E
I hit enter.
Is this correct?
Yes / No
I hit yes.
One moment as you are registered.
. . . .
User Name: ALICE
Serial Number: 46226-46235
Blood Type: O-
Resting Heart Rate: 75
Condition: Excellent
Radiation: Low
S: 3
P: 5
E: 6
C: 4
I: 7
A: 8
L: 1
You are now registered.
Thank you ALICE for choosing RobCo Industries. Please enjoy your Pip-Boy Model 3000.
Warranty null and void in event of nuclear holocaust.
I smiled as the Pip-Boy's screen faded and came back to life with the central menu.
Who needed rainbows.